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Thursday, November 8, 2012

Races of Kickassistan: The Elves

The Elves

The first elves came to the world from that strange place called “Elfland” far in the past before any recorded history known to man or dwarf began. The elves are wild, unknowable creatures, and modern scholars believe that these first elves were no different. It was a separation from whatever grace that Elfland itself possessed and, perhaps more importantly, that the King of Elfland bestows upon the elves, that ultimately led to the “corruption” of the worldly elves, these scholars claim. Over millennia of life in the world, these worldly elves carved out an empire for themselves, ultimately finding kindred spirits in the other master species that would come to call themselves Elder Races and founding the cities that men would know as the First City of Ur-Hadad and the Sunken City, wherein they languished in a decadent luxury supported by their myriad races of slaves. It was the race of Men, supported as they were by another Young Race, the dwarves, who sealed the fate of these imperial elves; though they styled themselves as kings and emperors, priests and pontiffs, the final death knell for this darker race of elves came when the bridge to Elfland reopened and the uncorrupted elves came to the world for the first time in ages. Though suspicious of the Young Races and doubtful of their intent, the elves joined with Man and his dwarven and halfling allies to rout the imperial elves. The blood of their one-time kinsmen on their hands, these elves did not return to Elfland but instead took up residence in the untamed places of the world, ever vigilant should the scattered remnants of that dark elven empire return.

Surprisingly like this

Elven Adventurers

Though elf society has much to offer elves of all social classes, a growing number of elves have found themselves overcome with a fiendish sort of ennui; they have seen it all, time and again, and seek some new thrill. Many adopt trappings of the past out of a sense of irony; after all, the ages that produced those trappings crumbled as surely as the current age is crumbling. Many seek solace in art, ever adopting new styles and rejecting all previous tradition. Many seek to slake their boredom at the edge of a blade and reject all norms of society, becoming adventurers; many others seek adventure through the working of magics and the binding of of demons and creatures from outside space. Nearly all elves spend at least some of their lives pursuing all of these causes, all to find some small excitement that they have not yet known, all to ward off the weariness that a life that spans centuries leads to.